The present invention relates to a front vehicle-body structure of a vehicle.
The front vehicle-body structure of the vehicle which comprises a front frame extending in a longitudinal direction, an apron reinforcement positioned above and on an outward side, in a vehicle width direction, of the front frame and extending in the longitudinal direction, and a suspension housing provided to be laid between the front frame and the apron reinforcement and accommodating a suspension therein is known.
The suspension housing includes a suspension tower portion where a damper member of the suspension is attached. The damper member is provided to extend obliquely such that its upper portion is positioned inward, in the vehicle width direction, relatively to its lower portion, so that the suspension tower portion is inclined inward in the vehicle width direction as well. Accordingly, when the suspension tower portion receives a load from the damper member in its axial direction, an inward-directional component, in the vehicle width direction, of this load greatly influences the suspension tower portion.
Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2011-005882, for example, discloses a structure, in which a joint portion of a suspension housing to a front frame comprises an inward-side connection portion via which the suspension housing is connected to an inward side, in the vehicle width direction, of the front frame and an outward-side connection portion via which the suspension housing is connected to an outward side, in the vehicle width direction, of the front frame, whereby the suspension housing is joined to the front frame at different positions in the vehicle width direction, thereby improving a bending rigidity of the vehicle width direction.
Herein, according to the suspension housing disclosed in the above-described patent document, the inward-side joint portion is joined to an inward side face of the front frame and extends downward beyond an upper face of the front frame. Therefore, when the suspension housing is assembled to the front frame, it is required that the suspension housing is moved inward in the vehicle width direction, positioning the inward-side joint portion at a position located above the front frame, and after the inward-side joint portion have passed the front frame, the suspension housing is moved downward so that the inward-side joint portion can contact the inward side face of the front frame.
That is, according to the suspension housing of the above-described patent document, since the above-described vertical move of the suspension housing is necessary, its assembling is not so easy.